Track: Design

Abstract

Nowadays there is an increasing request of autonomous mobility to be offered to impaired users. This demand is of particular importance especially in connection with some specific environment as those connected with malls, airports and in general large closed public space. There are a lot of efforts in the direction to offer appropriate means of mobility to the users but still some points are open to innovative solutions. One of the major issues to be taken under analysis is connected with the circumstance that disability is a very broad term including many forms of that. Often, vehicles are designed to target a specific kind of disability so that they are usable only from a specific group of persons. Another crucial aspect to be taken into account is connected to the minimization of the phases of relocation from the owned vehicle (e.g. wheelchair) the autonomous one. In this study an electric vehicle, specifically designed for indoor mobility, in airports will be presented. The vehicle is designed to be directly accessible by users on wheelchair without any third party assistance; moreover the vehicle is designed to be equipped with an autonomous guidance system that allow to guide the users in the main areas of interest of the airport along the entire time of permanence. A particular emphasis is given to structural design and material analysis in order to enhance autonomous capability of the vehicles by weight optimization and to reduce the environmental impact of the production.

Keywords
Sustainable mobility, Autonomous Guidance, Bio-based composite, Improved User Experience, Industrial Design.